Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has made closing large, low-performing high schools like Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx a linchpin of his reform strategy. In the big schools’ place, he opened smaller, often theme-based schools designed to give students a more supportive educational experience.

At what Chairman Dave Allegretto called the group's "favorite" event of the year, the Ocean City (Md.) Education Foundation gave away $17,822 in educational grants on Friday. Awards covered all three Ocean City schools — ranging from a new dance floor for the dance fitness program in the high school's successful School Choice program to a new scoreboard for use in Intermediate School and community athletic events and classes to laptop computers for use by first-graders at the Primary School.

Framingham, Massachusetts' B.L.O.C.K.S. preschool program is in many ways the "front line" of education, says director Rosario Alvarez-O'Neil. "We're able to figure out what we need to do with each child," she said, giving those students a critical head start once they reach grade school. But up until now, the state's early childhood education infrastructure has been underfunded compared to the K12 system, preschool advocates say.

About 35 sixth-graders at DSST Stapleton learned some hard lessons about cheating last month. The students were caught worming their way into an online instant assessment program in science and English (called “mastery checks”) and changing answers so their teachers would believe they had mastered subjects.

The Natchez-Adams (Miss.) School District will operate a magnet school beginning in the fall with a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The Natchez Democrat reports that the school board voted this past week to locate the magnet school at the former Robert Lewis Middle School. The program will have 125 sixth-grade students.

Detroit's students, and students in struggling schools statewide, deserve representatives that fight for them. We've all heard the facts that came to light once Michigan's worst schools had to open their doors -- single-digit proficiency rates in reading and math, and 38,000 pounds of trash crammed around desks and in the halls. These are the conditions far too many of Michigan's children face every day, and now there is an organized effort to lock them in for years to come.